Not so straight forward.
For one, batteries are shit expensive. Lead acid batteries not suitable due to their 50% depth of discharge (DoD).. means you take it below 50% capacity, it will die faster.
The LifePO4, or lithium iron phosphate battery can stand 80% DoD
one of the major makers of this battery for electric cars
http://www.a123systems.com/
Why I know so much about batteries? Thank you R/C hobby!! LOL.
If you got enough money, you can buy enough batteries to fight with the Tesla Electric Roadster. http://www.teslamotors.com/
Such an example is a DIY electro motorhead..
http://www.plasmaboyracing.com/whitezombie.php
The cost of converting into electric car is 30% stuff like motor controller, motor, and 70% for batteries and BMS (Battery management system, since they have to run many sets of batteries in series)
The batteries on tesla and white zombie costs more than RM90K to give an idea of what kind of costs associated to having a powerful electric car. And they are consumable items.. means need to change as you use them more.. OUCH!
Furthermore, electricity in US is not flat rate like Malaysia, in some places, they pay as low as 8 cents (their money) to 25 cents per kWh. So for those places where electric is 8 cents, it's worth it to convert to electric.. how much is ours? 21-25sen depending on amount we use.. gets more expensive as we use more..
Too lazy to post in KLIM's thread since they mentioned about paul tan saying hybrid batteries are expensive, but actually batteries work better in our temperature than in cold weather.. that's why US have cold-cranking amp rating on their car batteries. Colder, batteries actually produce less power lol. But too hot also not good.. :P
